K

Eiki SENAHA, Ph.D.

eynote speech
Recovery from Disasters andInternational Cultures
in Okinawa
Eiki SENAHA, Ph.D.
President, Meio University

In Shakespeare’s masterpiece, “Hamlet,” Hamlet

bottom of the sea. Noah’s Flood in the Old Testament

tells his schoolfellow, Horatio, “There are more andalso narrates this idea of paradise. Human beings, how-more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are

ever, recover the paradise which was once lost. That is

dreamt of in your philosophy.” The Tohoku earthquake

the regained paradise. In this way, according to theand tsunami on the 11th of March 2011, certainly shows

Western civilization, human beings once lived in thethe truth of Hamlet’s words. Whoever on earth could

paradise, lost it, and regained it.

foresee that this disaster would occur? The disaster has

Eastern Japan and Okinawa may have been walking

caused the damage which is immeasurable even with thethrough this same path. Having witnessed such disas-

human intellect; numerous lives are lost and more thantrous scenes, we Okinawans cannot help remembering

10,000 people are reported to be missing. The media

the Battle of Okinawa which took paradise away fromtells that there is still a great number of people who haveus. Then, how and what kind of paradise were Oki-lost their homes and property, and are forced to live innawans enjoying?

evacuation shelters. I would like to express condolences

Okinawa was once the Ryukyu Kingdom, andand sympathy from the bottom of my heart for the peo-

flourished from international trade. The kingdom pros-

ple suffering from this disaster.

pered even in the Edo period when Japan was under the

People in the West think that human beings haveisolation policy. Especially before the Satsuma Do-

been enjoying a wonderful world in the past, that is tomain’s invasion in 1609, Okinawans were enjoying, sosay, a paradise or a golden age, from the classical times

to speak, the golden age of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The

up to the present. The idea of paradise has been one ofgolden age means the happiest time, which is different

the important themes in Western literature. Human be-from the silver age or the copper age. The Ryukyu

ings, however, lose Paradise. Atlantis in Greek mythol-

Kingdom was in the golden age, time-wise, and para-

ogy was said to be a paradise before it sunk to thedise, space-wise.

5

Recovery from Disasters and International Cultures in Okinawa

The Ryukyu Kingdom was right in the intersection

under the influence of the countries around the kingdom.

of international cultures, which indicates that the history

The main chamber of Shuri-jo Castle, a World Herita-

of Okinawa is the history of intercultural contacts andgesite, is a good example. It is clear at a glance that Chi-international exchange. The exquisite prose which isnese architecture had a great influence upon the castle;

engraved on the Bell of Bankoku-Shinryo, casted init almost looks like a miniature of a palace in the For-

1458 and hung in the main chamber of Shuri-jo Castle,

bidden City. Ryukyu classical drama, kumiodori, whichclearly proves my point. The preface to this Chinese

was also designated as World Heritage, is influenced byprose begins as follows:

Noh, one of the Japanese performing arts. Bingata, oneof the traditional arts and crafts in Okinawa, is influ-

琉球国は南海の勝地にして三韓の秀を鐘め、大enced by yuzen in Kyoto and the dye techniques in East

明を以って輔車となし、日域を以って唇歯とな

Asian countries. Finally, Awamori is said to have orig-す。此の二の中間にありて湧出する所の宝来島

inated in Thailand. As you look at the roof and the en-

なり。舟楫を以って万国の津梁となし、異産至宝

trance of Shuri-jo Castle’s main chamber, and the roof

は十方刹に充満す。

and the pillar of the Shurei-mon gate, you notice that the
Ryukyu culture is a compromise between the Chinese

The prose goes on to tell how Ryukyu was flour-and the Japanese cultures. For, the entrance of the mainishing at that time. The kingdom received superb cul-chamber is that of a temple, and the pillar of the Shurei-

ture from Korea. The relationship with China was thatmon gate is that of a shrine.

of being between the upper and the lower lips, that is,

In the play The Teahouse of the August Moon

Ryukyu and Korea were mutually dependent to each

which was adopted from a novel by an American writer,other. The relationship with Japan was that of teeth andVern J. Sneider, the interpreter Sakini says, “Ryukyuans

lips, that is, Ryukyu and Japan never had a breach in re-

don’t have to go to the foreign countries, because West-lations. Because of these relationships, the prose tells,

erners will come to this island and bring in their cultures

the kingdom was filled with foreign products and arti-

to us.” I have to say that his comment is half-way true.

cles. Ryukyuans went all the way to Korea to the north,

For, in the 19th century, the warships and merchant ves-

and to the East Asian countries in the far south by shipsels of the powerful countries of Western Europe came

where they engaged in international trade. Having pre-to Ryukyu one after another.

ceded the age of geographical discoveries in Europe, theIn 1815, Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of

Ryukyu Kingdom was pursuing international commerce.

Waterloo. In the following year of 1816, the group ofThus, the 15th and 16th centuries brought in glorious

the Royal Navy Captain, Basil Hall, landed on Naha inprosperity to the Ryukyu Kingdom. Ryukyu was en-

Lila and stayed in Ryukyu for 40 days. They invited thejoying the golden age, and was indeed the enchanted is-

Ryukyuans to the ship and entertained them. It was theland, paradise.

very first occasion for the Ryukyuans to come into con-

Ryukyu’s indigenous culture was preserved andtact with Western culture. What surprised the British

succeeded until the amphibious landing of the United

people most was that Ryukyuans were different from theStates on March 23, 1945. Ryukyu absorbed the cul-people they had encountered in the East Asian countries

tures of various countries and created its own culture

where they had stopped on their way to Ryukyu. That6

Eiki SENAHA, Ph.D.

is, no Ryukyuans stole anything on their ship. In his

freely as a religious missionary. Thus, his activities were

journal titled “Account of a Voyage of Discovery to thelimited to places such as the agricultural product markets

West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo Island inand the docks in Naha, and to people such as farmers

the Japan Sea” (1818), Hall admires the Ryukyuans say-from the countryside and sailors. I hear that Bettelheim

ing that “they never tell a lie, and they are honest andpreached to those people and said, “If you believe inreliable.” From the 18th century to the 19th century,

Christianity, you will become equal to the people inthere was a cultural critique that defined the civilization

Shuri and Naha, and you would never be looked down

as something to debauch human beings. Innocent andupon or discriminated against.” As for the achievements

naive people, placed as the opposite of “civilization,”of his missionary, one could name the translation of thewere called “noble savages” and were praised enthusi-

New Testament into the Ryukyuan language. How-

astically. They must have regarded the Ryukyuans as

ever, his mission as a Christian preacher may be re-“noble savages,” and if they did, the Ryukyu Kingdom

garded as unsuccessful.

must have been seen as what they called “paradise”.

influence the Ryukyuan people spiritually with hisFor, he was supposed to

On his way home, Basil Hall stopped at Saint He-

Christian doctrine, but he was not successful in making

lena where Napoleon was confined, and talked with him.

many Christians out of the Ryukyuans. That is, Bettel-

Hall told Napoleon that there was a country which had

heim could not repay the kindness of the Ryukyu King-no weapons. Napoleon did not believe Hall’s report. He

dom in a spiritual way. He left Ryukyu and went backclaimed that there should not have been such a country

to America along with Perry in 1854.

as to be totally unarmed in that kind of era. Hall was

Accordingly, Bettelheim’s view on the Ryukyu

overjoyed to see Napoleon perplexed. However, when

Kingdom and the Ryukyuans was not necessarily favor-

Hall pointed to the Ryukyu Kingdom on a map,able as opposed to that of Basil Hall. Some Okinawan

Napoleon immediately commented that he knew theintellectuals felt anxious about this historical fact. They

country, which disappointed Hall greatly. It might not

invited Mrs. Beth Bettelheim Bratt, Bernard J. Bettel-

have been without reason that Napoleon, who had beenheim’s granddaughter, at the end of April 1937. It was

preoccupied with war, was astonished to be told thatabout two months before the Sino-Japanese War broke

there was indeed an unarmed, peaceful kingdom.

out. They showed her around Shuri and Naha, which

Ryukyu was certainly the epitome of paradise.

her grandfather regarded as his spiritual hometown.

A Navy missionary in Britain, on the other hand,

They apologized to her for their ancestors’ wrong-doing

decided to repay the kindness to the Ryukyu Kingdom

toward her grandfather. Among those intellectuals werewhich took care of them materialistically during theirDr. Kiko Nakachi, who was the fourth generation fromstay. As a result, they sent a Christian missionary named

Dr. Kijin Nakachi, Mayor Kiko Kinjo of Naha City,

Bernard J. Bettelheim to Ryukyu in 1846. Bettelheim

Deputy Mayor Jugo Toma, the first President Koshin

not only translated the New Testament into the

Shikiya of the University of the Ryukyus, and the sec-

Ryukyuan language, but also introduced the protective

ond President Chosho Goya of the University of the

inoculation of smallpox as a doctor. Under the isolation

Ryukyus. I hear that Mr. Genichiro Shimabukuro, thenpolicy, however, he was kept under the strict surveil-

the Secretary of Education, went all the way to Yoko-lance of the government authorities, and could not act

hama to welcome Mrs. Bratt. This episode may be con-

7

Recovery from Disasters and International Cultures in Okinawa

sidered to be a beautiful story that shows the Okinawan

As we retrace the history of human beings, we canspirit of “ichariba choodee” which means that “meetingsee the changes inour view of nature clearly. More thanonce makes everyone brothers and sisters.” Further-often, people have discussed their view of nature. Nature

more, I believe this anecdote suggests a model of inter-has been defined in various ways as sacred, merciful, in-national exchange.

different, machinery, and living organisms. However,While Perry came to Japan in order to demand thethe view of nature which was influenced by Lyell’s prin-country to open its doors to the world in 1853 and put

ciples of geology and Darwin’s theory of evolution

an end to the long, peaceful Edo period, the peacefulseems to be the most convincing theory to describe the

Okinawan paradise was destroyed when the Battle ofpower of nature in the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Okinawa broke out in 1945, starting with an air-raid.

That is, nature is the entity that stains its fangs and claws

Preparing for America’s amphibious landing under thewith the blood of human beings, and devours them. The

tense war situation, Okinawans destroyed their numer-

Poet Laureate Tennyson aptly wrote, “Nature, red inous works of cultural heritage by their own hands. Za-

tooth and claw.”kimi-jo Castle, reconstructed to become one of the

Okinawa is the only region in Japan where a ground

World Heritagesites, was built by Gosamaru in 1422.

war was fought and a number of civilians were involved.

The cultural worth of the castle was said to be the beau-

What determined life or death in that situation some-tiful, curvy line of the walls, which adopted the castle

times depended on whether one had on understanding

building technique of Holland. We young students de-of Western culture or not. At the landing sites including

stroyed those green castle walls inexorably, which wereisolated islands, a tragic mass suicide occurred. If there

covered with huge pine trees, and we built the antiair-

were any people who had experienced Western culture,

craft gun site there.

the tragedy might not have happened. In fact, in the air-When I was looking at the incredible scenes of theraid shelter where any returners from America stayed,

Tohoku earthquake and tsunami on television, I could

mass suicide never took place. Another such example

not help associating them with those of the Battle of Ok-

is one middle-school student who escaped from deathinawa. The tsunami overcame those tall breakwaters,by asking, “What time?” when he was about to be shot.

swallowed towns, villages, and houses one after another,

A Similar incident happened in Germany as well. Whenand paradise was lost instantly. The scene reminded me

one German soldier was taken prisoner by a British andof 1,500 American warships which occupied every sin-

was about to be executed, he recited, “The curfew tolls

gle corner of the Okinawan Ocean, and the landing war-a knell of parting day.” It was a line from Thomas

ships which were heading for the coast to attack us. It

Grey’s masterpiece, “An Elegy Written in a Country

reminded me of the evacuation ships which were sunk,

Churchyard.”Those two mutual enemies became

ejecting the small children into the water. It remindedfriends after that incident. I think it is crucial to recog-

me of those small children being swallowed by thenize the importance of the language culture.

waves. It reminded me of the residents who were

The loss of lives in the Tohoku earthquake and thewrapped by the fire of the flame throwers. Every single

Battle of Okinawa is beyond all imagination. As ofscene of the Battle of Okinawa reminded me back to the

March 20, the number of deaths and missing persons isscenes of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

reported to have reached 20,921, which is alarming and8Eiki SENAHA, Ph.D.

astounding. On the Cornerstone of Peace, which was

No man is an Island, intire of it selfe; every man isbuilt on the southernmost point of mainland Okinawa,a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if aon the other hand, the names of 241,132 warvictims are

Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is theinscribed.

There are no longer allies or enemies.

lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as

Among those inscribed names are those of Americans,

if a Mannors of thy friends or of thine owne were;

British, and Koreans. As Basil Hall says, Okinawans

any mans death diminishes me, because I am in-have a culture that cherishes the dead. They have been

volved in Mankinde; and therefore never send tobuilding cemeteries for foreigners for centuries, andknow for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

have buried the dead reverently without ever blaming
them. I think this fact indicates the Okinawan people’s

I think the people all over the world feel the same way

spirit of universal brotherhood―all people in the wholeas the poet. I do feel that we human beings all shareworld are brothers and sisters.

“one life.”

I know that the Tohoku area lost not only human

How did Okinawa’s postwar rehabilitation start

lives but also homes, land, property, and both public andfrom scratch? First of all, it was fortunate that the Oki-private assets. Okinawa as well lost the unique cultural

nawan people had the sense of community, the sense of

assets that our ancestors had been building up for cen-“Gemeinschaft,” just as the people in the Tohoku areaturies. The number of national treasures in Okinawa is

do. It is called “yuimaaru” which is based upon theestimated to be third in Japan, following Kyoto andspirit of mutual support. People all over the village co-Nara. It is regrettable that most of those cultural treas-

operated with each other to build the houses and to set

ures were lost in the war. Imagine a picture scroll inout the rice plants. Thus, Okinawans started rehabilita-

which the houses are drawn; they are roofed with tradi-tion by reconstructing their everyday living. The stu-tional red tiles, surrounded by stone walls and gajumaru

dents who were taking lessons in the shade of a tree bytrees for centuries. The scene indeed is identical to a

and by began building so-called stable classrooms byparadise. Okinawa once lost paradise, but started fromthemselves. The educational reconstruction started in

scratch, started from nothing to regain it.

this way. Secondly, as the Tohoku region is receiving

We must regain the paradise which has been lost.

moral and material support from countries all over the

Sympathy and support are coming to the people in theworld, Okinawa as well received support from the “Ok-

Tohoku area from all over the world regardless of theinawa Kenjin-kai” (Association of People from Oki-sizes of the countries. I also received a great number ofnawa Prefecture) in both North and South America. For

e-mails and letters from the countries in East Asia, Eu-

instance, Kenjin-kai in Hawaii sent sire pigs and goats

rope, Oceania, and both North and South America.

to Okinawa, which made it possible for the people in

Most of them wrote, “My thoughts and heart are with

Okinawa to re-start animal husbandry. The transport ofyou and all the people of Japan.” I felt all the people,

the sire pigs and goats was made into a film titled “Mis-rather, all the human beings in the world united as one.

sion: Transport of Pigs,” which resulted in quite a mov-

Now, I cannot help remembering the famous words ofing story. Such support from fellow Kenjin-kai truly

the eminent metaphysical poet, John Donne.

encouraged us and energized us toward reconstruction.

preaches:He

Then, how were our daily lives? All the foods that9

Recovery from Disasters and International Cultures in Okinawa

were distributed by the U.S. Army were new and rare tohuman being seems to become a poet when he is put in

us. As we had lived on cycad (Japanese sago palm),

an extreme situation. Margaret Mitchel wrote Gone

anything seemed to be a feast to us. We received Cali-with the Wind based upon the American Civil War.

fornian rice, egg powder and ice cream powder which

Hemingway wrote A Farewell to Arms on the basis

we no longer see any more, and cans of corned beef.

of his experiences in the First World War. Oshiro Tat-That is, we encountered Western food culture then. How

suhiro as well wrote The Cocktail Party taking theabout our clothing culture? Both men and women took

incidents in the international culture in Okinawa right

U.S. Army uniforms (HBT, Herring Bone Tweed) apart,after the war, and won the Akutagawa Prize. I expect

and made clothes and hats out of them. Considering ourthat the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami will surely

housing culture, we used “two-by-four” wood provided

bring forth outstanding literary works.

by the U.S. Army to build standardized houses.

It has been 66 years since we Okinawans lost our

We Okinawans used to build houses on the foot ofparadise due to the Battle of Okinawa. During these past

the mountains or in the valleys, probably because of theyears, the buildings of National Treasure, National The-

frequent typhoons; however, we learned to build houses

ater, and Prefectural Art Institute were built. The

on the hills from American culture. In the United States,

Bankoku Shinryokan, where the 26th G8 Summit took

the business district is usually located downtown, andplace, was also built. However, we cannot have the lostthe residential district uptown. In Europe as well, citi-

cultural heritage back ever again. The restored buildings

zens used to build cities on the mountains. A German

are nothing but replicas. Rehabilitation takes a longterm “berg” means “mountain,” which changed into

time. It would be my pleasure if the people in Tohoku“bury” or “burough.” The name of the place “Heidel-

could learn anything from Okinawa’s reconstructionberg” in Germany is a good example to show the com-

process following the Battle of Okinawa. Furthermore,bination of the word meanings. “Canterbury” in England

I would be gratified if this keynote speech can make anand “Edinburough” in Scotland are also good illustra-occasion for us, Japan Society of Intercultural Studies

tions. We may be able to learn a lot from these Western

members, to think what about we can do for the reha-cultures when we consider the rehabilitation of the dam-bilitation for Tohoku. We must try to recover paradise,

aged Tohoku area from the Tohoku earthquake andand we must try harder to reconstruct a “permanent par-tsunami.

adise” gathering all the human intellect and knowledge.

What the war damage brought forth was, ironically,
not only the minuses. It is a fact that prominent Japanese verses, Okinawan poems, and war literature were
produced on the battlefields and in the POW camps. A

10

Thank you very much for listening.